The Blood King - A Worldbender Story
by Driver3196
Summary: Things could have turned out a little differently.


**Just a note, this is a two-shot AU for the Worldbender series by Carly the Llama with what would have happened if my OC, the fan favorite Jared Brock, had been revived as the Fae King during Two Worlds, One Family. I would recommend getting caught up on the series before reading this.**

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Jared cursed Freya as he looked down at his body. He had just landed on the artificial plane of Alynthi, the home of his new family, after being resurrected from the dead, and he already had some complaints. Freya had gone against his wishes in favor of her own self-interest, reviving him as fully fae instead of fully human. Climbing out of the pond, he looked over to his newest friend, Liana May, who was curled up asleep on the grass. Not wanting to bother her, he instead went off to the most secluded area of the world he could find and called on the council member associated with his stone. Within seconds, Freya had materialized behind him, radiant and beautiful. "You called?" she asked in a suave yet cheeky tone.

"I asked only one thing of you," he muttered, not bothering to turn and face her. His telepathy told him that if he did face her, he would find a stoic figure. It also told him that behind that facade was a woman scared out of her wits at his tone. "I am a human, and all I wanted was to be resurrected as such. But you had different plans just because you don't want to multitask, forcing your rightful position on an unwilling host."

"I'm sorry, Jared. But it's a stressful job, which doesn't pair well with being on the council."

"So you give it to the person least interested? How many fae are there in the multiverse? Likely trillions at the least. You could have given the job to any of them."

"To who? Oko? Alela? Oona? No, you are by far the best choice."

"Because I have your stone and was easy to grab. Did you even try looking for another possibility?" Silence was all the answer he got, and all he needed. "I figured as much. You didn't like your role, got lazy, and dumped it at the first possible chance. In doing so, Freya, you made a powerful enemy." He turned to look her in the eye, his eyes a brilliant red. "The council nor your beloved Carpenters will be able to help you now. Soon, all will know what happens when someone is given an empire at the same time they are stripped of their humanity."

Several heads turned as the door to the throne room was thrown open, a tall, muscular man entering. "Who are you?" one of the crownguards asked.

"The name's Jared, and I'm going to be running things around here." They leveled their weapons with his chest as he moved towards the throne.

"None may take the throne save Lady Freya."

"Oh, you didn't hear?" Jared began in mock sympathy. "Freya doesn't like you. She gave up and left, shoving all her problems on me. Since she made me king-"

"One does not simply become king! There must be a coronation, tradition must be followed!"

"You dare interrupt your king? To hell with tradition, archaic acts that we only do because we're too lazy to come up with a different approach."

"Well, if not for tradition, how about the legal system that requires a coronation to name a king?" At this, Jared tilted his head back, his eyes lighting up a pale blue that mixed with the red, giving him an even more terrifying appearance.

After a couple minutes of standing there, the glow died down and Jared met the crownguard's gaze once more. "That should not be a problem anymore. A shame to have laws created by lawmakers with a monarch that holds most of the power. They were so easy to manipulate."

The crownguard looked in horror. "What have you done."

"I have made it so that one may take the throne without coronation or any other formal events if it is given to them by the now former monarch. Simply put, Freya wants me to be king, so now I can come in and be king, no questions asked. Therefore, lower your blade and _let your king through_." The coldness and malice in his voice hung thick in the air, striking fear into the hearts and minds of all present, save Jared, as he sat upon his new throne. "There are going to be some changes around here. First order of business, fetch me a representative of the Sidhe."

Camille paced the living room of Zoe's home. It had been almost a full day since Adrien had spotted someone falling from the sky, later discovering the girl Liana May, who claimed to have been resurrected alongside Jared, who was nowhere to be found. Hearing the door click, she looked up to see her brother and Eden enter, both shaking their heads. Grim entered through the other side of the room, his posture telling he had had similar success. Camille's lip quivered as she walked over to Eli, resting her head on his chest as she began to cry. He sat her down and rubbed her back soothingly. "Hey, it's okay. We'll find him," he assured her.

"I didn't even get him back and it already feels like I've lost him again," she choked out through her sobs.

"I did a background check," Grim began. "Liana was telling the truth. Jared's out there somewhere. It's just a matter of finding him."

"I know where he is," a new voice said solemnly. They all turned to see Freya sitting in the corner, clothes disheveled and hair unkempt, as if she hadn't bothered to keep herself together for the past few days. "He's taken the throne on Zariya."

"HE WHAT?!" everyone shouted in unison.

"Yes. It's his rightful place now. He was my heir, and his body was a confusing mix of dozens of species. Naturally, I had to narrow it down to one, and so he came back as fae. That way he could take my place at the head of my kingdom, allowing me to focus on my role as a member of the death council."

"That's great," Eli said. "Never would have thought Jared would agree to that, but hey, more power to him, literally at this point."

"So when's the coronation?" Eden asked.

"I-I'm not sure," Freya quickly stuttered out.

"I'll go ask."

"I wouldn't-" but before Freya could finish her sentence, Eden was gone.

While it had only been a couple of days, Zariya had changed a lot from what Eden remembered. There was now an overly complicated security system that had her wearing a phoenix-eye cuff just to get a five-minute audience with Jared. Worth it, she decided. A door on the far side of the room next to the throne opened, and Jared stepped out, but he looked. . . different. Now his hair was jet-black, short and choppy, only framing his face and showcasing his pointed ears. His skin was far paler than when she had last seen him, and he had several strange red tattoos and stains across his body. He wore simple brown leather boots and breeches, steel bracers and a fur cape with no shirt, showing off his impeccably toned torso, his crown a ring of thorns placed haphazardly on his head, sitting at an angle. In his right hand, he held a bound scroll, and in his left, a massive sword-spear taller than him with a polished oak handle and a three-foot blade. "What brings you here?" he boomed.

"Uh, it's your family. We're all happy that you're alive, especially Camille. God, her bond was driving everyone nuts. But, we want to know when the coronation to officially instate you as king is."

Jared gave a hearty laugh. "There will be no coronation. I have rightfully taken the power granted to me by the previous monarch. I am their king, no questions asked."

"Okay. Well, expect several visitors soon, then. Though, we still have no clue where Joselyn is."

"Joselyn is bounding around on Lorwyn with the planeswalker Estrid. Lorwyn has such good spies. I know all that occurs there."

"So, this is your life now? Spying on people through various other fae?"

"My life?" he chuckled. "You call this living? Ordering around pathetic faeries and groundlings, the only hope for this crumbling empire being the military force of the Sidhe that the former monarch loathed and exiled. I was handed someone else's broken toy because they found something new to play with and didn't care enough about this one to try and fix it."

"I don't think Freya-"  
"FREYA COULDN'T CARE LESS ABOUT ANY OF USE! SHE STRIPPED A HUMAN OF HIS HUMANITY JUST SO SHE COULD GIVE AN UNWILLING RULER THE THRONE FOR HER OWN SELFISH REASONS!"

"What?!"

"Ask her yourself."

"Freya would never. . ."

"Guards, get her out of my sight."

The living room was packed. Zoe's entire family and almost all of the death council had come to welcome Jared him, though she suspected that most of the council members were there simply for her brownies. When the door opened, they all tensed in excitement, eager to great their friend who they hadn't seen in years. Instead, they only got a furious Eden. She stormed in, not even bothering to close the door as she rushed over, grabbing Freya by the throat and yanking her from her seat to slam her against the wall.

"Eden, what the fuck," Eli shouted.

"Did you cause this?" the girl seethed.

"Eden, you don't know what you're-" Freya began.

"DID YOU CAUSE THIS!?" Freya's solemn eyes and hung head were all the answer she needed. "You idiot."

"Uh, did I miss something here?" Hana asked.

"When Freya resurrected Jared, she brought him back as full-fledged fae and gave him her kingdom."

"Sweet, king Jared," Eli fist pumped.

"What she neglected to tell us is that Jared never really had a say in it. It seems he wanted to remain human, but Freya just couldn't wait to dump her throne, so she gave it to Jared, not even bothering to make sure he was qualified or if there was a better option."

"Jared was more than qualified," Freya defended.

"Oh yeah? Then why has he expanded the kingdom a hundred-fold in the past day, turning it into a militaristic dictatorship declaring all out war on a single person."

"The Sidhe."

"Exactly. Thanks to their changelings, he now has control over the armies of Camelot, Embereth, New Benalia, Katolis, Lux Aurea, and dozens more. Elves, dark mages, dragons, none of us are a match for him if we wanted to defend her."

"Zettaflare could stop him," Eli offered. "I could use that threat as terms of negotiation to get him to back off, just let us live our lives."

"No, you couldn't," Freya muttered. "His armies are far too powerful. The dark mages of Katolis alone could reverse the spell, killing you and destroying Alynthi. The military might he commands is unparalleled and unprecedented, and his rage mixed with the powers his fae body grants him thanks to the stones, only Cradh could stop him, and we all know he would let this play out as punishment for me."

"And maybe we should too," Camille offered.

"Cam, no," Zoe said firmly.

"Why not! She brought our friend, my mate, back, just to turn him into a monster because she couldn't handle a little bit of pressure. If we get involved, apparently we all just fucking die, and the merfolk kingdom is still bitter about the death of their king under our care, so they're going to be absolutely no help. Basically, we either side with the woman who took one of the closest people to us away for good or we sit back and throw her to the wolves. I vote the latter."

"Here here," Eden chirped, her hand still around Freya's neck.

"Now, let's not rush things," Eli tried to calm the situation.

"Wolves," Alexa and Quantic Jared said in unison.

"Yeah, we're with Cam," Harrison said, looking to Amelia, who was nervously fiddling with her fork.

"Guys, come on," Freya pleaded.

"I'm sorry, Freya," Micah said, "but we all agreed that should a problem arise because of our abuse of power, whoever abused said power would have to deal with it. You used your power as an excuse. I didn't think you had it in you, but apparently you do."

"Morrigan just contacted Cradh," Faun added. "The vote was unanimous. Exile."

"No. No, no no you can't do this to me!" Freya cried.

"I'm sorry," Grim looked at her, his gaze full of sorrow, "but you left us no choice. We could have helped you, but you went behind our backs and created a threat worse than Kahu."

"Judge just carried the motion," Morrigan spoke up. "As of this moment, Freya is no longer a council member. I'm sorry, old friend, but it had to be done." The lights were turned out and everyone left the room, save for Eli and Freya, the latter of which was on her knees, wracked with sobs.

Freya felt her sorrow quickly give way to something much stronger: rage. Rage like she had never felt before. If nobody would help her, she would have to help herself, to choose a champion entirely under her control. Desperate for anything, she looked up at Eli, who had approached to try and comfort her. Without hesitation, she reached out, weaving control magic into the young man's essence, turning the sorcerer into her champion, a warrior and bodyguard to protect her from the Fae forces that were undoubtedly coming to destroy her. Jared could send his armies. The army of secret dead she commanded could handle them. And now, she had insurance against the king himself. "Come with me," she began, about to call him Eli. But this was no longer Eli. This was a creature with no mind or will of its own, only living to serve her command. As she stepped into the portal to her hidden militia, she called back to her new companion. "Come along, dog."

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Watching Freya's power through the planes, Jared noticed it dwindle. The council must have dumped her, meaning that her beloved humans had dumped her, too. Serves her right to play favorites. He peered through the eyes of Wydwen, pleased with his tormentor's broken state, and clenched his fist as she took control of Eli and accessed a hidden portion of the Dark Realm. She too, was preparing for war. Pulling his mind back to his own body, he turned to the man he had summoned, a human with wild hair, crocodilian skin, dark leather clothes, and a mischievous smile. "You called, dark lord?" Rumplestiltskin asked with a high pitched chuckle.

"I am no dark lord," Jared replied. "That implies cruelty for cruelties sake. I am a blood king. Judge, Jury, and often executioner for those who truly deserve such punishment."

"Well then, _Blood King_, whaddaya need?"

"Something far different than what it was suggested you might be requested to do. In light of recent events, I need you to find the Carpenter family, the unhinged group with no birth, self, or impulse control, and make them an offer they simply can't refuse."

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**That awkward moment when you realize you just started writing fanfiction for a fanfiction.**


End file.
